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. Get. 2 1945. LE ROY S. JESSEN 2,385,813

EMERGENCY CABLE-CUTTER Filed Nov. 2, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. LE For 6 c/ESsE/v To NEyS Oct. 2, 1945. LE ROY s. JESSEN 2,385,313

EMERGENCY CABLE-CUTTER Filed Nov. 2, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I V I I I INVENTOR. A: Ford. c/EdXSE/V Patented Oct. 2, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE V i I 2,385,813 7 EMERGENCY CABLE CUTTER v Le Roy S. .lessen, Dayton, Ohio Application November 2, 1944, Serial No. 561 ,551-

' 7 Claims. (o1, 164-40) (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928;370 0. G. 757

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a device for cutting a cable and is particularly useful on aircraft in tow targent practice for severing the cable at points remotefromthe towing plane to which the cable is attached.

In tow target practice, after the target being towed has been subjected to practice fire, it is usually released from the rear end of the cable and replaced by a fresh one, all while the cable remains fully extended.

In such a system the impact'of a target reaching the end of the tow cable releases any target preyiously launched. It sometimes happens, however that the releasing mechanism fails to function, leaving two targets on the end of the cable, whereby the added weight drags the cable down, sometimes to a dangerous level. In such a case, or in the case of any other entanglement or obstruction, the cable must be out quickly not only in order to prevent its threshing about, but.

.to prevent its being entangled in tree tops or high tension electric lines, etc.

The cable could, of course, be cut off where it emerges from the towing plane, which would avert the danger to the plane due to threshing about of the targets and the danger of the targets being dragged and caught, but it still would not obviate the danger of having the cut-off cable fall on electric wires or installations.

The cable should therefore preferably be cut at the rear end where the release mechanism is jammed, since in that case not only will the danger of the dropped cable contacting electric wires be eliminated but the greater portion of the cable, which may have a length of several thousand feet, may be salvaged.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a cable cutter which, when the necessity arises, may be instantly launched on a cable from the towing plane and be impelled by the relatively moving air to the obstruction at which the cable is to be out, then will automatically cut the cable at that point.

Other objects and advantages will become evident as the invention is more fully described, reference being had to the drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the complete cable cutter shown in its unoperated state.

Fig. 2 is abottom plan of the cutter viewed from 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken at 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a sectional View taken at 4-'-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view like that shown in Fig.4 except that the device has operated and cut'the cable;

Like reference character refer to like parts throughout the drawings.

In the drawings a lower cutter arm l0 and an upper cutter arm l2 are hinged together by the hinge stud M, which may be welded at IE to the arm 12 as shown or be made an integral part thereof. The stud I4 is freely rotatable in the cutter arm I0. Cutter arms l0 and 12 are slotted to receive wings l5 which may be welded to the arms or similarly secured thereto.

Transversely to its axes, the stud I4 is slotted as at IS, the slot being wide enough to receive the cable 20 quite freely. For more than half its length the slot [8 is enlarged as at 22. Radial slots 24 are formed in the cutter arm l0, these slots being of substantially the same cross sec tional shape as the slot l8. In the normal unoperated position of the device, as seen in Figs. 1 through 4, a shear pin 26 asses through both cutter arms In and I2 and thus holds the slots 24 of the cutter arm l0 and the slots l8 of the hinge stud 14 in alignment. The dimensions of the shear pin 26 may be made of a size and the material thereof of a kind which will be sheared by the inertia of the device when it strikes an cutter arm I 0 by rivets 30 or other suitable means. v

Springs 28 are cut away as at 32 to clear the end of the hinge stud M, the toe portions coming together at 34 to close the "slot 24, then turning under at 36. The springs 28 are sufficiently yieldable to allow the cable 20 to be forced through the joint 34 into the slots l8 and 24.

The operation of the device is as follows:

When the need for cutting the cable 20 at its remote end arises, the device may preferably be brought down over the cable as seen in Fig. 1, and forced over it so that the cable passes between the springs 28 into the slots l8 and 24 (see Figs. 3 and 4). The attendant thereupon lets go of the device and, assisted by the wings I5, it is carried back, relative to the tow plane, until it strikes the obstruction and is stopped thereby, sufficient relative momentum being gathered in traveling the length of the cable to cause relative movement of the arms I 0 and I2 and shear both the shear pin 26 and the cable 24 as seen in Fig. 5.

Due to the fact that the slot IS in the hinge stud I4 is enlarged at 22, the cable needs be cut at one place only. Obviously, if the slot [8 extended all the way through the stud without the enlargement 22, the device would necessarily cut through the cable twice.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A cable cutter which comprises a shear havmovable parts having cutting edges, normally positioned one on each side of the cable, means to normally hold said cutting edges so positioned, means to guide said cutter along said cable, and means operative by impact of said cutter against any obstruction on said cable torovercome said holding means and move said cutting edges toward each other to cut said cable.

3. 'A cable cutter which comprises two hingedtogether cutter arms'each carrying a cutting edge, means to normally hold said edges positioned one on each side of said cable, means to hold said cutter on said cable for sliding movement thereupon, and means operative by impact of said cutter against any obstruction on said cable to overcome said holding means and move said cutting edges toward each other to cut said cable.

4. A cable cutter which comprises two cutter arms with ends overlapping, a hinge stud fast to one and rotatable in the other of the overlapping ends, the end of said stud and the face of the arm within which it is rotatable being provided with a diametral slot for loosely receiving the ,cable which is to be cut, a shear pin extending through the overlapping ends to hold the part of the slot which is in the stud and the part which is in the arm in alignment, and a yieldable means for holding the cable in the slot.

5. The device recited in claim 4 wherein the shear pin is so placed as to hold the cutter arms spaced one hundred eighty degrees.

6. The structure of claim 4 with vanes at the outer ends of the cutter arms for propelling the device along the cable which is to be cut.

7. The device of claim 4 wherein the portion of the diametral' slot which is in the end of the stud is enlarged part way through the stud.

'LE ROY S. JESSE'N. 

